Lord Jesus Christ 4 B.C. - 30 A.D. | @Wikipedia @CopelandNetwork @ShepherdsChapel @ChristianTopic1 @TurnBackToGod

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I started 'this obituary' without filling all the bulletpoints on this list, but I'll try to fill them in in some order. 

Lord Ἰησοῦς (Yeshua, Yashua, Yehowshua, Iesous, Jesus ... known as The Christ, The Messiah, The Prophesied Savior, among other titles) is on record as having died (on the day after Passover in the year 30 AD (or on the day of-)—sometime in the month of Nisan—the first month of the Hebrew Calendar) by crucifixion (at about 33 years-of-age) on The Hill of the Skull (Golgotha).

I'm sure there are lots of Christians who deny that–with such ideas as "No He's not! He floated up to a castle on a cloud and is sitting in a throne on the right hand of Our Heavenly Father!" etc. etc.–but He is no longer living anywhere that can really influence anything in the real world.

(Or maybe he's-really present but -in another dimension (like Pastor Arnold Murray or Brother Kenneth Copeland (or maybe Sister-Gloria Copeland or -Billye Brim) say Angels exist—seeming real in the sight of those who see them), but only able to change things in the world by influencing their viewers to make those changes!)

Anyway—that & other-factors make me want to 'flip this obituary around' a little—unlike 'the standard order' (at the top-link), I think I'll be naming His 'survivors' next ... as He was/is a huge part of their lives, that they have had to 'rehabilitate' to the loss. (I realize that–now that I think about it–most of us didn't 'have Him as part of our lives' until after He passed away!)

I suppose He is mostly 'survived by' His twelve disciples (whom He "commissioned" to make us all into disciples, which is where I suppose most of us get the idea that we should take His commission)
    Those First Disciples (whom we help Grieve for their loss of Lord Jesus Christ by helping them fulfill their commission)
  • Simon Peter - a 'Son of Thunder' (with the brothers James-the-Elder/Great & John-the-Beloved, one of the three closest friends of Lord Jesus), a fisherman who probably wrote First- and Second Peter (if those weren't written by disciples of his) after he became a leading disciple following Jesus' ascension
  • Andrew - Simon's also-fisherman brother (tho not a 'Son of Thunder'), formerly a disciple of John-the-Baptist
  • Jude Thaddeus (a.k.a. "Judas, not Iscariot") I knew he wrote The Book of Jude, and I heard that he was one of Jesus' half-brothers (because I think one of them were named 'Judas' or 'Judah' or 'Jude'); but the page at the 'Disciples'-link (above) says that he was a brother of James-the-Younger/Less & of Matthew the 'Publican' (Tax-Collector)
  • Bartholomew/Nathanael - a convinced skeptic who went on to become a missionary in Armenia & India
  • James-the-Elder/Great - a 'Son of Thunder,' brother of John-the-Beloved, beheaded by Herod (Acts 12:1-2)
  • James-the-Younger/Less - brother of Jude & (possibly) Matthew-the-Publican, he probably wrote The Book of James (but it's disputed)
  • Matthew/Levi - NOT a fisherman (as were most of the other disciples), he wrote the first of the books we call Gospels
  • Philip - a fisherman from Bethsaida with a missionary heart, he preached boldly to large crowd in Samaria and traveled all the way out into the desert to bring salvation to one Ethiopian man (like The Good Shepherd who leaves his secured flock obedient sheep to save the one lost sheep) 
  • Simon-the-Zealot - a Caananite, the Zealot was a member of a fanatical Jewish nationalists that opposed Roman Rule and were devoted to Jewish law.
  • (Doubting) Thomas/Didymus - the disciple who famously proclaimed that he would not believe Christ had risen unless he could feel the risen Jesus' wounds.
    • I fear that I–like most in this science-fed age–am 'a disciple of Thomas'—willing to accept that these stories are true (as my many brothers-&-sisters believe-without-seeing), but not knowing any truth I can't "feel."
  • John-the-Beloved - brother of James-the-Elder, known as 'the beloved disciple' (tho that may be because he was writing the Gospel that called him "the beloved disciple") who also wrote three Epistles & the book of Revelation, and was the last of the apostles to die—though there were many attempts to martyr him, he lived into old age.
  • Judas Iscariot - the infamous traitor, the disciples' treasurer, hailing from Judea (whereas the other disciples were from Galilee)
He had a few more survivors (his mother Mary, Mary- & Martha Magdalene, the leaders He was rebelling-against, many-many followers), and all of us alive today hold a memorial of His death every Maundy Thursday—'the Thursday before the holiday celebrated on the first Sunday after the first Full Moon on/after the Spring Equinox.'

      His Predecessors (hmm ... I've seen it a couple different ways, but the one I'm looking-at traces His lineage through-)
    • Joseph
    • Eleazar
    • Zadok
    • Zerubbabel
    • Josiah
    • Hezekiah
    • Asa ... Asa? What about King Solomon???
    • King David
    • Jacob
    • Isaac
    • Abraham
    • Seth
    • Adam & Eve
    And–comparing that to a list of the descendants of Adam, and then a couple of the Bible's postings of Jesus' genealogy, I ...

    ... well, I'll do that later (it's important because it ties Jesus to the covenant with mankind through Abraham) but ... it's complicated


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